


Dear Fellow Traveler

by Superfluous_Slytherin



Category: Dream SMP Fandom, Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Fluff and Angst, Karl Jacobs Needs a Hug, Karl Jacobs-centric, M/M, Memory Loss, Tales Of The SMP, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-30
Updated: 2021-01-30
Packaged: 2021-03-17 00:21:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,150
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29091201
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Superfluous_Slytherin/pseuds/Superfluous_Slytherin
Summary: Karl Jacobs wanted to be a hero. He wanted to fix things, he wanted to make sure everyone was happy. He can't exactly do this when he can't even remember who he is
Relationships: Alexis | Quackity & Karl Jacobs & Sapnap, Alexis | Quackity/Karl Jacobs/Sapnap, Clay | Dream & Karl Jacobs
Comments: 10
Kudos: 234





	Dear Fellow Traveler

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this mostly in one go for my friend Sam who asked for Angst so...... enjoy?

Karl hadn’t meant for it to get this far, he had just been trying to help everyone.

  
He hadn’t even meant for it to happen in the first place. He’d found some stupid book and gotten it into his head that he could save everyone. Why had he decided to be the hero all of a sudden? And now he’s been sucked into somewhere he could hardly even recognize.

  
He had been so careful but he’d still fucked everything up somehow. There was a man standing in front of him, glaring, and he looked so much like Dream but that wasn’t his name. Or was it? He couldn’t tell anymore.

  
It probably shouldn’t have surprised him by now, the inconsistencies. The little things that he thought he remembered but were just a little wrong. There were two people in his memory that he knew he should remember, he saw them everywhere, but he wasn’t sure of their names. Or why they were important.

  
He wasn’t even sure where he was anymore.

  
He wasn’t even sure when he was anymore.

  
He wasn’t even sure who he was anymore

  
He was falling. He wasn’t sure when that had happened or where he had fallen from but he could tell from the way the wind stung his face that he was falling fast. He hit the ground so hard that he lost all of his breath, and he could feel rocks poking into his skin but he couldn’t bring himself to move, even when he had caught his breath.

  
He couldn’t bring himself to sit up and endure another timeline where things were wrong, where he would lose more of himself. He apparently didn’t get a choice because there was a hand on his shoulder, shaking him violently.

  
“Karl?” Who was that? Was Karl his name? He supposed it was, it sounded right. Who was talking? “Dude, what the fuck, where have you been? What happened?”

  
He managed to force his eyes open to see a boy with messy black hair, barely being held back by a strip of white cloth. Beside him was another black haired boy, this one with a blue beanie holding back his hair. He knew them. He knew them, didn’t he? Or, he should know them. Maybe.

  
“Karl?” The hand on his shoulder squeezed gently, obviously trying to get his attention. “Did you crash a trident or something?”

  
“Dude, he’s probably got brain damage or something.”

  
“I don’t have brain damage.” He groaned, sitting up and nearly knocking heads with the headband wearer.

  
“You were staring like you did.” The one with the beanie rolled his eyes. “Seriously dude, what happened?”

  
“I don’t- I don’t know. I fell.” They knew who he was, that was a start. Not really, he seemed to just exist and most people just accepted him. Well, besides Dream. Or, whatever strange version of him emerged here. He couldn’t even remember what his name had been in the most recent place. Time. Whatever.

  
“Come on, let's get you home.” Headband grabbed his arm and tried to lift him up, much to the annoyance of Karl’s body. He couldn’t stop himself from yelping as he felt like his side was being ripped open and Headband dropped him back onto the ground. “Sorry, Sorry! Quackity, do you have any potions?”

  
“No, but I think we have some in a chest, I’ll run and grab some.” The beanie wearer, Quackity? That was an odd name, turned and disappeared from Karl’s view quickly.

  
“Karl, where’ve you been? You’re so fucking pale dude, have you just been hiding in a cave somewhere?” This was a test, it was a test wasn’t it? Dream was wanting him to mess up the timeline, say something wrong. Couldn’t he just wait until he was at least lucid?

  
“I don’t know.” He said softly and the black haired man placed his hand on Karl’s forehead, pushing his hair back gently. He leaned in until their noses were practically touching, staring at his eyes carefully.

  
“Did you actually hit your head or something?”

  
“Not that I know of. Why…. why are you so close to me?”

  
“Uh, sorry? You must’ve hit your head, usually you’re the one up in my face.” He backed up anyway and Karl frowned.

  
He hadn’t had relationships with people in the last timeline, had he? No, because he didn’t exist there. So how did this man know him? Before he could figure this out, Quackity appeared again, holding several different bottles in his hands. How he wasn’t dropping them, he had no idea but he managed to sit down in front of Karl without glass shattering.

  
“Drink up babe.” He grinned, handing him a pink potion that he could already smell the sickly sweet smell and tell that it was an instant health potion.

  
He wasn’t sure how he liked being called babe but he just rolled his eyes and downed the potion quickly. He realized that was probably a bad idea because all of the blood rushed to his head and even though he was sitting down, he saw his vision blur and he couldn’t help but lean on Headband.

  
“Shouldn’t have done that.” He could tell his words were slurred but he couldn’t do that much about it.

  
“Of course you shouldn’t have, idiot.” Headband didn’t sound actually mad, in fact he sounded rather amused. “What were you thinking?”

  
“Sapnap, he said he fell, obviously from somewhere big, he probably wasn’t thinking at all.” Oh, so that was Headband’s name. Why did that sound familiar too? What was he forgetting? He was forgetting too much. Where was he again?

  
“Where am I?” He asked tiredly, and he could see them exchange worried glances.

  
“L’Manberg. Were you aiming somewhere else?”

  
“L’Manberg?” That was important. He remembered that. Maybe. He needed to stop….. Something from happening. “No, I don’t know where I was going.”

  
“When was the last time you slept?” Quackity laughed a little, but frowned when Karl shrugged.

  
“Let’s just get him home, it’s getting dark.”

  
Sapnap was gentler this time as he lifted Karl and since he was still mostly numb from the Health potion, he almost immedietly collapsed. Sapnap gave up trying to get him to walk and instead picked him up, carrying him….. Somewhere. If Karl was being honest, he could hardly keep his eyes open as they moved. Whoever these two were, they knew him or at least some version of him and they didn’t seem that dangerous.

  
He did open his eyes when they entered a small house. There was a large bed that looked like three or four pushed together and Sapnap laid him down gently on one side of it. He could hear someone clanging pots somewhere but the bed was so soft that he couldn’t fight the sleep. He wasn’t sure when he’d last slept. He’d thought it was only a day or two but his body felt like it had been years which, technically it probably had been. He still had no idea how long he’d been falling but based on how these two had acted, their version of him had been gone for a bit.

  
When he next opened his eyes, there was the smell of soup in the air and an arm wrapped around him. He pushed himself back a little to see that Sapnap was laying next to him, rubbing his back gently. He started, surprised to find him so close again and nearly fell out of the bed. Sapnap chuckled at that and Karl smiled nervously.

  
“Why are you so jumpy all of a sudden?” He asked and Karl shrugged.

  
“Just wasn’t expecting you to be that close.”

  
“If you’re done being stupid, I’ve got something for you to eat besides me.”

  
Quackity grinned as Karl and Sapnap both got to their feet, handing them both bowls of soup. He leaned in and kissed Sapnap on the cheek, only to get shoved away. He yelped, letting himself sprawl across a chair dramatically.

  
“What was that for? He’s home now, I’m allowed to kiss you.”

  
“I don’t have to let you, I’m trying to eat my soup!”

  
“Awe, come on Sap, just a little kiss.” Sapnap had to balance his bowl above his head as Quackity playfully started trying to grab his face. As Karl watched them, he realized that he missed this. Why had he missed this? There was something there, just out of his reach.

  
His bowl hit the floor with a clatter and he joined it seconds later. How had he forgotten them? What had he done? He had been so careful and yet he’d forgotten the people most important to him.

  
He loved them, how had he forgotten them?

  
“Karl? Karl, look at me. What’s wrong?” Sapnap was in front of him and it took everything in him not to shove him away. He didn’t want to lie to him, he couldn’t lie to him.

  
“I forgot you.” He said, unable to keep the horror out of his voice. “Both of you. I didn’t mean to but I was gone for too long and I couldn’t remember who you were.”

  
“Gone where? Karl, what are you talking about?” Quackity asked, joining them on the floor. “Gone where?”

  
“Not where, when. I went to different times, I tried to change things. I tried to fix things but I couldn’t, it was all I could do to remember who I was and I couldn’t even do that before you reminded me.”

  
“Time travel? Dude, how hard did you hit your fucking head?”

  
“Quackity, I’m gonna hit YOUR head if you don’t shut up.” Sapnap snapped and the other quieted. “Karl, you realize how insane that sounds, right?”

  
“Ya, Ya, of course I do. But I can show you, I found a book. Where’s my book?” He searched his pockets and when he couldn’t feel the familiar shape in his pocket, he panicked. Where could he have left it? His memory hadn’t been that bad until he’d landed here, had it?

  
“Wait, you mean this thing?” Sapnap turned and grabbed a book off the table without standing up, nearly smacking himself in the head with it.

  
“Yes, yes, look!” Karl grabbed it and spread it open on the floor quickly, pointing to the different pictures on the paper. “There were people that looked and sounded like you guys but were different. The only person who was the same was……”

  
“Who?” Sapnap asked quietly, but Karl couldn’t speak. It felt like there was a hand around his throat as he stared down at the picture of Cornelius.

  
“Me.” He said softly, tearing his eyes away from the green ones marring the page. “It was only me.”

  
“And you forgot everyone else?” Quackity asked in confusion and Karl laughed a little bit.

  
“No, I remembered you. I remembered you so much that I saw you in everyone around me but I guess I remembered so much I couldn’t tell the difference anymore. It all got jumbled. It’s hard to explain. I didn’t mean to forget, or be gone for so long. How long was I gone?”

  
“Close to a month.” Sapnap informed him, throwing an arm around his Karl. “You’ll be lucky if I let you go into the other room without me now.”

  
“That might be fair.” He chuckled softly. “It’s still all…… fuzzy. I feel like I’m about to forget it all the second I look away from you.

  
“Wait, hold on!” Quackity jumped to his feet and disappeared into the house, and they could hear several chests opening before he returned, a book and quill in hand. “You can write down everything you need to remember. It’s what Ranboo does. We’ll help!”

  
Later that night, Karl rolled out of the bed as quietly as he could, sneaking out of the door and wincing as the floor creaked underneath his feet. Thankfully, neither of the other men in the house stirred and he escaped without any incidents. He pulled two books out of his pockets and sighed tiredly. He opened the book that He, Quackity, and Sapnap had spent nearly 2 hours filling with things he needed to remember.

He turned to the page that they had both signed and ran his finger over their names slowly, before grabbing the page and ripping it out of the book. He felt his heart tear with it but he didn’t stop, ripping it into tiny shreds until the words were unreadable.

  
He couldn’t do it, he couldn’t hurt them and he couldn’t stop. He needed to do what was best for them. And maybe that was not having to worry about him at all. He opened the spiral covered book and found the page he was looking for. He glanced back at the house as he felt the magic already taking hold of him.

  
“I’m sorry.”


End file.
